On 22 February in Kyiv the public discussion “Establishment of the parliamentary service as a part of the Verkhovna Rada reform” took place. The event was organised by the two Parliamentary Committees on State Building, Regional Policy and Local Self-Government and on Rules of Parliamentary Procedure and Support to Work of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in co-operation with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the Programme “Decentralisation and territorial consolidation in Ukraine”.

During the event the specificities of the parliamentary service of Ukraine and international experience of parliamentary service organisation in EU countries was discussed.

In particular, Council of Europe expert, Honorary Secretary General of the French Senate Alain DELCAMP presented  the report “Comparative overview on the organisation and statutes of administrations of parliamentary assemblies” prepared by the Centre of Expertise for Local Government Reform jointly with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.    

More than 100 persons took part in the meeting: members of the Parliament of Ukraine, staff of the Parliamentary Apparatus, PACE representatives, executive authorities, civil society and experts. The meeting became the first public discussion dedicated to this issue, most of the participants concluded that improvement of the parliamentary service, and attraction of active and qualified professionals to the service should be beneficial for improvement of the Parliament’s work in general.

Photographs by Andriy Nesterenko